Spring Time Inertia is hard to break.
This will help you break that inertia and get you out of your Winter-Slump.
I always tell my patients who are not in the habit of working out regularly that the first part of their work-out routine is just to simply "show-up".
Join a gym if you don’t have a place of your own to work out and practice just going there every day. Decide what is a good time for you most days and stick to it.
That’s it - just go there every day and maybe walk around for a few minutes, say hello to a few people and maybe drink some water and then leave ....but do it everyday until you’re very much in the habit of showing up.
It might take a week or two but just do it - It’s more important than it seems.
Then one day when you go in... do 5 minutes on each of 5 different machines.
Just 5 minutes - no more, no less
Ride a bike for 5 minutes and get off and immediately get on an elliptical for 5 minutes and then immediately get on a stair machine for 5 minutes, and then get on a rowing machine for 5 minutes, then get on a treadmill for 5 minutes, then do 5 minutes of stretching.
Done
Get a drink of water and leave.
But come back tomorrow and do the same thing again.
If it starts to feel like it’s getting old and boring rearrange things and do them in a different order but keep up this routine for two weeks.
On week three add ONE minute to each exercise.
On week four add another minute and so forth until you’re doing 10 minutes on each machine.
At this point two things should be happening:
1) You should be quite in the habit of showing up at the gym.
2) You should be starting to feel pretty good - you’re breathing should be getting better and your major muscles should be feeling a bit more toned.
Congratulate yourself - you’ve done the hardest part of starting to get in shape.
Now keep it up. Now you’re in the shape / position to start doing some more serious exercise and conditioning.
You have begun and built up slowly. There should have been only minimal discomfort, if any at all.
If you feel any degree of lingering pain consider seeing your chiropractor and getting checked. You may have misalignments in your spine that should be corrected before you go further with your re-conditioning program.
Continue with your routine, increasing in some areas and maybe adding different exercises.
Maybe try using some of the other machines or try using some dumbbells for resistance work.
Adopt the attitude or mentality that this is for life, as in "forever", as well as... so you have a life to live.
Don’t try to do too much or advance too much or too fast all at once - you’ll only end up with an injury that takes you "out of the game" and you wind up de-conditioning.
Copy, paste and Email this to a friend
- Do it together. It’s much harder to go soft and wimp out if someone else is counting on you showing up with her.
Comments